It's amazing what a difference $200 million can make. On Thursday, the 49ers received that amount in stadium support from the NFL, and all of a sudden, my exasperating 1 1/2-hour Muni ride to their last playoff game seems like a pleasure cruise.

The move from Candlestick to Santa Clara became less of a mirage. Long Sundays on 101 became more of a reality.

San Francisco residents have known this was possible for years, but they could always hope for a comeback like the one that Massachusetts pulled off after Hartford, Conn., had virtually swiped the Patriots 13 years ago. Team owner Bob Kraft pulled away from the Hartford deal only two days before he would have been financially locked into it.

That could still happen here, but the Santa Clara site is much closer to San Francisco than Hartford is to Foxborough (roughly 45 miles versus 100). Also, the $200 million deal the 49ers got Thursday is an offshoot of the financing scheme that the NFL created in part to keep the Pats at their longtime home in Foxborough.

The original program, known as G3, served two purposes. It eased the burden on elected officials eager to gamble public funds on a football stadium, and it gave the league's stamp of approval to a particular construction project. The new program is called G4 (and no, it has nothing to do with your wireless network). It offers $50 million more than the old program, a wise move considering both inflation and the demonstrable intractability of the communities that have resisted their teams' shakedown efforts.

The stadium plan could still founder. A group opposing the stadium in Santa Clara is trying to challenge the results of the June 2010 Measure J election, which approved funding for the stadium. The opponents argue that the ballot measure did not adequately spell out what is now on the table for the team - $850 million in loans from the city's stadium authority.

The enormous financial responsibility taken on by Santa Clara almost makes San Francisco's fumbles on a stadium deal seem tolerable to a city dweller. But with a little finesse and minimal public financing, San Francisco might have held onto the team. Instead, we had a dilettante serving as mayor, and by the time he moved onto the weighty agenda of a lieutenant governor, Santa Clara had already voted.

So now, the Muni express buses to the Stick are slated to become relics. They were generally a good deal, and any attempt to take mass transit to the new location will be far more difficult.

The fans on that halting bus ride with me 12 days ago stayed in good spirits - quite literally in the case of the three guys consuming a fifth of bourbon. Most of us had seats and felt peeved only because the driver had ignored a request to reroute the bus away from the clogged freeway and toward the reliable route along Third Street.

Colleague Leah Garchik reported worse conditions from the bus she took - a trip of 2 hours and 20 minutes with passengers escaping through the windows. But the delays were created by rain - always a problem for Bay Area drivers - and a failure to coordinate Muni with plans for tighter security at the game. The mess had nothing to do with Candlestick and its fairly decrepit stadium.

A week earlier, on the way to the 49ers' playoff win over the Saints, the same ride took only 40 minutes. That's the typical routine, and this season, a round trip cost $12. It keeps cars off the roads and bourbon drinkers away from the wheel.

Some of the fans on those buses will probably invest in bigger TVs by 2015, the year that the Santa Clara stadium is slated to become home to San Francisco's football team. The new ticket prices will scare off some of the current clientele. The extra 80 miles on the road, round-trip, will deter plenty of others.

I'm lucky. If I make that journey, I'll be on the job. I would never pay for the thrill of getting to Santa Clara in high-volume traffic 10 to 12 times a year

At least, we can expect the Raiders to stay put for now, right alongside the Coliseum BART station. The NFL seemed to be pushing hard for the two Bay Area teams to share a stadium, with the possibility of $400 million in support for doubling up, as the New York teams did with their new place. The $200 million deal suggests that the 49ers are going alone.

York said he and Raiders owner Mark Davis, both in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl, had talked casually, but the idea of a shared stadium never came up, not even when they worked out together at their hotel.

He sounded understandably cheery as he dug further into the plan that could introduce a new Sunday exercise pattern for 49ers fans in San Francisco: accelerator, brake, accelerator, brake ...